


As Long As You're Right Here

by simpletumbleweedfarmer



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Episode: s07e22 Requiem (X-Files), F/M, Fluff, i hate chris carter why did he do this to me, i was really traumatized after requiem even though i know what happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:35:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23971669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simpletumbleweedfarmer/pseuds/simpletumbleweedfarmer
Summary: Dana Scully has one fear and as long as Fox Mulder is there, she'll be okay.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23





	As Long As You're Right Here

Scully wakes up, screaming.

She’s screaming for him, even though he’s a motel room away.

She tastes salt on her lips, and she doesn’t know if it’s tears or sweat.

Her heart is pounding and she’s clutching the sheets, hyperventilating, fighting for every breath.

The scream turns into a sob, and she’s sitting there, crying in the dark, feeling like her whole world is crashing down, mixed with the bittersweet relief of realizing it’s all a dream.

_This is ridiculous. You are a grown woman. You are having a dream._

She tries to remind herself of those basic facts, but the terror just feels too real. Like it’s happening right there and then.

She slowly slides out of bed and forces her shaking legs to walk across the floor to flip on the light. She looks around the room as it fills with light, but she just feels more scared.

He wasn’t here.

Just a normal motel room.

No one was here.

She takes a long, slow, deep breath.

She wants to run out the door, and knock on his door, and have him pull her into his arms.

He couldn’t know.

She didn’t want to be weak in front of him. She didn’t want to be weak in front of anyone.

She sits on the edge of her bed, shutting her eyes for a second, her nightmare replaying in broken scenes the second her eyes are closed, like a bad horror movie she’d watch with Mulder.

Shot by horrible, terrifying shot.

Mulder’s gone.

Disappeared into a ray of light, the ship overhead.

She wants, wishes, prays, knows it should have been her.

Her eyes snap open, and she feels the sob rise up in her chest, the tears start to fall again, and the panic closes in.

He’s gone and she can’t stop it.

“It’s fake, it’s fake, it’s fake,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around herself.

She just needs to see him.

That’s all.

She just needs to know he’s there.

Then she can go back to her room and go back to sleep, like a normal, grown adult.

She pulls on a sweater over her t-shirt, glancing in the mirror of the dresser for a second, running her fingers through her hair, wiping at the tear streaks on her cheeks that just won’t go away.

She has to come up with some excuse for going to him, something he would just write off.

Scully looks around the motel room and sees a few case photos laying on the nightstand, and she crosses the room, snatching them up.

Perfect.

She’ll ask for his opinion on the photos, and then go back to bed.

Like a normal, grown adult.

The clock on her nightstand says it’s 3am and she knows Mulder is probably up.

_If he’s not…_

She glances into the mirror again, feeling the tears start again, and she shakes her head, trying to push the thoughts down.

He’ll be awake.

She tucks the photos under her arm, shoves her feet into her shoes, and unlocks her motel door.

She steps out into the cool air, shuts the door behind her, and locks it.

She can’t help but feel strangely nervous as she walks the two feet from her room to his, knocking on the plain white door.

He doesn’t answer.

Scully feels her heart pound, and those stupid, awful, weak tears start trickle down her face again.

_He’s just asleep, go back to bed, calm down –_

“Hey, Sculls, what’s wrong?” the door opens, and there is Mulder.

Safe and sound.

Asking her what was wrong.

“I-I-I wanted to ask about-“ she can’t get the words out, she realizes she’s shaking, the tears running down her cheeks. She holds out the photos, as if hoping that explains why she’s at his doorstep.

_He’s right there, he’s right there._

_He’s okay._

He takes the photos out of her hands, and gently puts his other hand under her chin, lifting her eyes to his.

Her lower lip is trembling, and she knows she’s crying.

“Scully, what’s wrong?”

That’s when she loses it.

All the strength, all the resolve she’s built up shatters.

She reaches up, wraps her arms around his neck, and a second later, she feels his arms wrap around her waist, squeezing her tightly against his chest.

“Shhhh, I have you. You’re okay. I’m right here.”

He gently pulls her inside, keeping one arm around her waist, pushing the door shut with the other hand.

She lets him go for a moment, standing there, feeling so awkward, so exposed.

“I’m sorry, Mulder. I-“

He sits down on the edge of the bed, looking at her with the most concerned expression in his green eyes she’d ever seen.

“I-I-I had this dream,” she manages to get out, swallowing to push the tears down. “That you were taken. By whoever did those experiments on me. They should have taken me, Mulder, but they took you.” She takes a deep breath and tries to control her emotions.

That had never been hard for her. She’d always been logical, almost a little cold before you got to know her.

But around Mulder?

It was like he brought every feeling up at once.

And the thought of someone taking him from her was devastating.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I shouldn’t have bothered you.” She turns towards the door, and Mulder stands up, grabbing the back of her shirt.

“You never bother me, Scully.”

He lets her go, and she turns around, looking up at him.

Suddenly, she wants to be close to him. She doesn’t just want to see him, she wants his arms around her so that she knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that he was there.

“Mulder, can I stay?”

The request is so much bolder than Scully usually is, but she’s tired of playing it safe.

And she’s tired and she realizes she’ll never go to sleep unless he’s by her side.

“Of course.”

She steps around him, climbing onto the bed and laying down, back towards him, hoping she doesn’t have to say anything, and he just figures out what she wants.

She doesn’t think she could ask without crying, anyway.

Or actually say the words she’s been actively suppressing asking for so long.

Mulder’s more intuitive then she gives him credit for.

She feels the bed sink down under his weight, and his arms wrap around her, and he nuzzles his head into her neck.

For the first time since she woke up, Scully relaxes.

They’re silent for a long minute, and then Scully very softly whispers, “Mulder, can I tell you something?”

“Anything,” he tells her, and she feels him snuggle a little closer.

“You know how people ask you what your greatest fear is?”

“Sure.”

She scrunches down in his arms so he’s holding her a little tighter before she speaks again. “Since I was a little girl, I never had an answer. I was scared of things, but I always felt like I could get over the fear, if I just worked at it enough. That changed.” She’s silent again, feeling her eyes prickle with tears that she doesn’t want to fall, but knowing they will anyway.

“My biggest fear is losing you,” she whispers.

Mulder’s silent and she feels him press a kiss to her cheek, his arms tighten around her.

“Scully-“ he says, breaking the silence after a moment, and she can feel his hot breath on her cheek. “I will never, ever leave you. You will never lose me.”

She shuts her eyes, the tears falling anyway, and the relief she feels at his words flooding her system.

Logically, it’s a promise he can never keep.

But it’s what she wants to hear.

And in her heart, she knows he’ll try and keep it.

“As long as you’re right here, I will be okay,” she says.

“And as long as you’re right here, I will be okay,” he says, and in that moment, they’re together.

Together in the promise to never leave each other.

Scully shuts her eyes, letting out a long, shaky breath, and Mulder buries his face in her hair.

They’d always be together.

Mulder and Scully.

Together.

__________________________________

It was a promise he could never keep.

Scully’s eyes open, and she feels the familiar feeling of terror as she looks up at the ceiling of her apartment.

She doesn’t scream anymore or call his name, because no one’s there to hear her anymore.

She sits up, stumbles out of bed, tasting the familiar mix of sweat and tears on her lips.

_He’s gone._

She flips on the light, and grabs onto the doorway with her hand, steadying herself.

_He’s gone._

Every time she wakes up, sweaty and teary eyed, she thinks of that night.

That night, just three months before he was taken from her, where she’d laid in his arms and he’d promised to never leave her.

She’d promised that she’d be okay as long as he was right there.

And now he was gone.

And she was definitely not okay. Not even close.

She walks over to her closet, the tears sliding down her face as she yanks open the doors, pulling out the shirt she already knows is hanging there.

She holds it in her hands for a second, and then wraps her arms around it, burying her face into the soft, blue fabric.

That’s when the sobs really start, and Scully finds herself on her knees on the floor, pressing her face into Mulder’s dress shirt, breathing in any last bit of his smell that still clings to the shirt.

_As long as you’re right here, I’ll be okay._

She’d made that promise what seemed like a million years ago.

She’d give anything to see him again.

_Why couldn’t it have been her?_

Why couldn’t they have taken her?

At least Mulder would have been safe.

She sits down on the floor, laying the shirt over her knees, tracing the seams, remembering all times he wore the shirt, trying to remember every detail of how he looked, how he smelled, what he said.

She loved that man more than anything.

She’d do anything to have him back.

She was going to get him back.

She was going to get to sleep next to him again one day, and know, in the morning, he’d still be there.

He’d be right there next to her.

And when that happened, she’d be okay again.


End file.
